Energy-aware Internet routing coming soon

August 18, 2009 1:22 PM PDT
Energy-aware Internet routing coming soon
by Marguerite Reardon 7 comments

Researchers have come up with a new way to route Internet traffic that could save big Internet companies like Google millions on their electricity bills, according to an article published by MIT's Technology Review.

Researchers from MIT, Carnegie Mellon University, and the networking company Akamai recently published results from a study that suggest big Internet companies could save up to 40 percent on their electricity bills by using an algorithm to send Internet traffic to data centers where electricity is less expensive.

Data centers consume a lot of energy, which costs operators like Google and Amazon millions of dollars to run each year. And now as more digital information is "virtualized" and accessed in the cloud, centralized data centers are getting even bigger and are consuming even more energy.

In fact, data center energy usage is expected to quadruple during the next decade in the absence of efforts to improve efficiency, according to the article, which referenced a report from McKinsey & Company and the Uptime Institute published in July 2008. The article also estimated that today, some large Internet companies spend more than $30 million a year on energy costs.

But now there could be a way for these companies to lower their energy costs. Using an algorithm developed and tested by researchers at MIT, Carnegie Mellon, and Akamai, these companies can track electricity prices that fluctuate by location and time of day. It then calculates the best option depending on the price of electricity and the distance that data must travel to get to a particular location, to provide the most cost-effective route for data based on energy costs.

There is mounting pressure for big Internet companies to reduce their energy usage. Not only is it expensive, but these companies face pressure from governments and others concerned with the environment to reduce their carbon footprints.

The algorithm developed by these researchers doesn't necessarily cut the use of energy. It merely helps companies better manage their energy costs. But researchers argue it could also be used to direct traffic to facilities where greener forms of energy are being used.

The example used in the article is a Google data center in Belgium that relies on ambient cooling to keep its facilities under a certain temperature instead of firing up expensive air-conditioning systems. On days when the weather is too warm, the servers in the data center simply shut down. One researcher working on the project said that the energy-routing algorithm is an extension of this idea.

Managing energy and its costs is likely to be big business in the coming years for technology companies. Cisco Systems, the largest networking company in the world, recently said it sees a $100 billion market in helping power utilities better manage their electrical grids using communication technology.

Other high-tech companies, including IBM, Intel, and several start-ups, are also ramping up to develop sensors and other technology that alert power companies and their customers about energy usage in an effort to balance usage and reduce costs.

The idea of the "smart grid" is to modernize the electricity industry by overlaying digital communications onto the grid. For example, smart meters in a person's home can communicate energy usage to utilities, allowing these companies to more efficiently manage the electricity supply and potentially allow a consumer to take advantage of cheaper rates.

Some utilities are already testing technology from Cisco that will help its routers and switches more efficiently manage the flow of electricity and prevent outages in grid distribution equipment. Cisco also released new software earlier this year called EnergyWise, which allows more efficient use of energy in office buildings. The software is a free upgrade to Cisco Catalyst switches that can monitor and manage how energy is used on IP-connected devices, including phones and wireless routers. Using the software, companies can set policies on energy use, allowing PCs or networking equipment to go into sleep mode after work hours, for example

MIT Researchers track 3,000 pieces of Seattle trash

Researchers track 3,000 pieces of Seattle trash
Goal is to get people thinking about what they throw away

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updated 3:17 p.m. ET, Sun., Sept . 13, 2009
SEATTLE - Where does that coffee cup, disposable razor or unwanted television end up once it's tossed to the curb?

Using an electronic tracking device about the size of a matchbook, MIT researchers are tagging about 3,000 pieces of Seattle trash to get people thinking about what they throw away and where it ends up.

"Seeing where your trash goes allows you to change your behavior," said Assaf Biderman, associate director of MIT's SENSEable City lab and a project leader. "Will you refill a cup instead of throwing away a disposable one?"

Researchers are visiting the homes of hundreds of Seattle volunteers to affix electronic tags on about 10 to 15 pieces of their household trash, such as pizza boxes, Styrofoam cups, slippers and scrap metal. The volunteers will dispose of the item as they normally would.

The battery-operated smart tags rely on cell phone technology to send information back to MIT computers, allowing researchers — and the public — to monitor the trash in real-time as it moves through the waste stream to its final destination.

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The public will be able to follow the trash migration at an exhibit that opens at Seattle's Central Library Sept. 18.

Jennifer Giltrop of Seattle said she's curious to see what happens to the empty wine bottle, a used printer cartridge and a plastic bag that she recently had tagged.

"We know where we purchase our items from, but we're not always as aware of what happens when we throw things away," said Giltrop, 38, who is assistant director of Seattle's main library. "We're aware of recycling, but what's the process?"

Biderman said the project will allow researchers to study in detail how efficiently, or inefficiently, the waste removal system works.

Does recycling end up being recycled rather than in the landfill? Does it take weeks rather than hours or days for trash picked up from one Seattle neighborhood to get to the transfer station?

"We're definitely a throwaway society that sets it and forgets it," said Brett Stav, planning and development specialist with Seattle Public Utilities. "A lot of people forget about what happens to the things that they throw away and they don't really factor in their impact."

In Seattle, about 789,608 tons of waste is discarded each year. About half of that ends up in the landfill, while the rest is recycled, reused or composted.

But about two-thirds of the city's garbage that ends up in the landfill, including food and garden waste, can be recycled, according to the latest figures from 2006.

"We're interested in improving our collection system," Stav said, noting the city collects garbage from 150,000 homes on different routes five days a week.

Trash is taken to two city transfer stations before being loaded onto a train to a landfill in Oregon. The city may find out that some routes take longer than others, Stav said.

City recycles 50 percent of its waste

Biderman said Seattle was chosen because of its reputation for recycling and its advanced waste disposal system.

Seattle now recycles about 50 percent of its overall waste, compared with 38 percent five years ago. The city hopes to recycle 60 percent of its waste by 2012. The national recycling rate is about 32 percent.

Pete Keller, general manager for Allied Waste, said about four percent of the recycling they pick up from Seattle and surrounding cities can't be recycled. This includes everything from bowling balls and kitchen knives to half-filled jars of peanut butter and engine parts, he said.

Once workers sort through the recycling, they sell it to domestic and some foreign markets. Soda cans are made back into aluminum products, and cardboard turned back into boxes, paper and packaging materials, Keller said.